Scores of UK passengers were forced to evacuate trains and walk along the tracks on Saturday after some services were halted due to a fault on the hottest day of the year so far.
Videos posted on social media showed people walking on the tracks beside Thameslink trains near Loughborough Junction station in south London.
Some passengers complained on social media about being forced to wait onboard services without air conditioning for up to two hours.
Angela Lewis posted a video on X of passengers gathered outside Loughborough Junction, along with the words: “After nearly two hours on the stuck train to Gatwick we are abandoned outside.”
A follow-up post said: “Was it entirely necessary to keep us waiting nearly two hours in stuck in an overheated carriage for that? we should have been out within 30 minutes max.”
Another user wrote to Thameslink: “You will have hell to pay. We’ve been stuck on this hot and humid train for over an hour.”
A Thameslink spokesperson replied: “This train will be getting evacuated shortly. Please wait until response staff have boarded and set up a safe evacuation route.”
Govia Thameslink Railway and Network Rail have apologised for the delays.
A Thameslink spokesperson said: “Earlier today, a fault on a train near Loughborough Junction brought all services to a halt in the area, three of them outside station platforms.
“Without power and air conditioning on such a hot day, we pulled all resources from across Sussex and Kent to get personnel on site to safely evacuate passengers as quickly as possible along the track.
“This would have been a difficult and uncomfortable experience for our passengers and we are truly sorry.”
The Met Office said there was a provisional temperature of more than 33C recorded in Surrey, making Saturday the hottest day of the year so far.
A yellow warning for thunderstorms covering parts of south-east Scotland, Yorkshire, the Midlands and Wales has been issued for Saturday evening until 3am on Sunday.
Up to 40mm of rain could fall in less than two hours, the Met Office said, as it urged those in the warning areas to consider whether their location was at risk of flash flooding and to prepare accordingly.
An amber heat-health alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency for the first time since September 2023, for all regions in England remains in place over the weekend.